Snowboarding 101

This may not seem like a big deal to a lot of people, but to me I was able to finally accomplish something I have wanted to do ever since I was in high school. Today I went snowboarding. After quite a few years of winters coming and going without ever getting out on the slopes, I decided this was the year it was going to happen. To help motivate myself, I picked a board and bindings set at a Black Friday sale.
I found out my friend Kim was taking a beginners class at Black Mountain in Jackson, NH this weekend. She was nice enough to let me tag along. So this morning I made the almost three-hour drive up from Boston.

Black Mountain Lodge

Three of us had an hour and a half lesson with a couple of really attentive instructors. In the back of my mind I had hoped that the bit of athleticism I have garnered from playing hockey would immediately make me awesome at this. Sadly that was the opposite of what happened. My training as a hockey goalie keeps me balanced on the front of my feed. This doesn't work so well on a snowboard, the first half of the class I couldn't manage to stay on my heels resulting in several head first tumbles when I caught my toe edge.

The mountain has horse back riding in the warmer months.

Since I couldn't "get it", one of the instructors spent most of the time working with me one on one. He was super encouraging and did his best to help me figure things out. Towards the end of the class I was finally able to complete a few runs down the hill without falling on my face or ass.

Didn't make it off the bunny hill.

We took a break for lunch and beers. Afterwards, I went back out and did a few more runs, but was pretty much exhausted from earlier. So I headed home shortly there after. All in all it was a very fun day and a good introduction to the sport. Hopefully with a few more days on the slopes, and probably some more lessons, I will get the hang of this. Here's a few more pictures from today.